Althea McNish

“Whenever printers told me it couldn’t be done, I would show them how to do it. Before long, the impossible became possible.” – Althea McNish in Women Design by Libby Sellers, 2018

Soon after the Second World War, 27-year-old Althea McNish moved from Trinidad to the gloomy, grey world of London, bringing with her a ‘tropical eye’ that would transform British textiles and fashion.

Althea studied at the Central School of Art and Design and the Royal College of Art, where she produced designs inspired by the British landscape, but with a feel of the Caribbean. On seeing her graduation show, the chairman of Liberty’s, the department store, commissioned her to create a range of fabrics.

Her bold, colourful patterns set Althea’s work apart from what was commonly available at the time, and she was commissioned by many of the leading textile manufacturers of the day. Among these was Zika Ascher, a Czech immigrant textile manufacturer, who supplied her silk-printed fabrics to couture clients, including Christian Dior.

Althea also taught throughout her career and was an active member of the Caribbean Arts Movement, which was founded to celebrate the work of artists, writers, filmmakers and musicians from across the Caribbean and to promote them to the British public.

Images © N15 Archive: The Althea McNish Collection. With thanks to Bruce Castle Museum/Deborah Hedgecock